Saving Money Is Out Of Style For Gen X & Y Workers

Workers in their 20s and 30s these days aren’t using their retirement funds for its said purpose.  Many younger workers are using their retirement funds to pay down credit card debt and home mortgages instead of leaving it alone to accumulate. 

Fidelity Investments in a new survey, said large numbers of young workers cash out their 401(k) accounts when they switch jobs, leaving them without an accumulation of cash for retirement.  Generation X workers, those born between 1967 and 1975, said money is their top concern with 77% of them saying it’s their biggest worry.  About 74% of generation Y workers, born between 1976 and 1987, said money worried them most.

Half of the workers in the two age groups said saving for retirement is an obligation or a goal, but 51% said other financial priorities prevent them from setting aside money.  Nearly 60% of both age groups said they didn’t believe they were making solid financial decisions, yet 41% said they didn’t seek financial advice when changing jobs.  Of this group, 56% cashed out their work place savings plans.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Generation X and Generation Y workers will surpass baby boomers as the largest single segment of workers in the U.S. by 2010 when they will represent 60% of the U.S. work force.